In the electronics industry, electrical connectors often are mounted to printed circuit boards for electrical connection to circuit traces on the boards. Typically, the electrical connectors are positioned on the printed circuit boards, and electrical terminals are soldered to circuits on the boards. The connectors usually include some form of locking or retention means to hold the connectors to the boards. The locking or retention means can vary from mounting posts molded integrally with the connector housings to separate mounting clips which engage the connector housings to hold the connectors to the board. The integral mounting posts or the separate clips usually are inserted into holes in the printed circuit board.
Providing locking or retention means as described above becomes more difficult when electrical connectors are mounted at the edge of a printed circuit board, such as in a cutout in the edge of the board. The locking or retention means becomes still more difficult to design when the electrical connectors are straddle mounted to the edge of the board. In other words, the connector may include terminals which are solder connected to both opposite sides or surfaces of the board.
Electrical connectors which are straddle mounted to the edge of a printed circuit board, as described above, often are more prone to become damaged during handling than connectors which are mounted on a surface of the board inwardly of the peripheral edges thereof. Without a secure locking or retention means, the housings of straddle mounted electrical connectors literally can be torn away from the retention clips and the connector terminals secured to opposite sides of the board.
The present invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a new and improved locking or retention means or system to hold straddle mounted connectors to the edge of a printed circuit board.